for me personally, conventional prayer wouldn't make much sense as it is directed towards an entity which is outside of myself. in my interpretation of the world there ain't such a celestial father, mother, ruler, benefactor , punisher etc.
for people who believe in such an outside ruler/creator/maker, prayer can make a lot of sense though. they do it in order to seek comfort and guidance, to avoid punishment or secure their tickets to the heavenly afterlife. all of these are valid motivations for prayer or following other religious codes and doctrines. when I was a child I prayed a lot myself and it did help me getting through rough times. it's been shown that prayer can help overcoming illness if you are a believer. from my point of view this happens due to it's stabilizing effect on the psyche. needless to say that a believer has a quite different explanation for it.

there is however different types of prayer. the christian centering prayer for instance is a contemplative technique which is quite similar to buddhist meditation and designed to help you waking up to your own deepest identity which actually is "god" or the formless source of all things or whatever else you wanna call it.

needless to say that the conventional churches don't approve of this type of prayer at all.
it aims towards the deep, transformative realization that people like Jesus arguably experienced. it suggests that you go and seek that experience yourself whilst conventional religion only asks you to believe in somebody else's (Jesus) experience and follow other people's (priests, prophets, church scholars etc.) interpretation of the same.

so it depends on what you want from prayer (which again depends on your world view). if you want comfort and reassuring, ask for benefits and avoid punishment than conventional prayer will do the job.
if you want to dig deeper and find out who you truly are you need to follow a contemplative path. no matter if christian, buddhist, muslim, jewish, hindu or even completely outside of religious traditions (which is my personal preference).

thanks for your exhaustive answer.... I personally feel it more coherent to ask help from the inside/seeking for hidden resources.... as for the 1st kind of prayer, the simple idea that you're not alone and helpless can be for some people a great helper indeed, but well... those religions went too far....

btw, what do you mean by "if you want to dig deeper and find out who you truly are" ... ?

what do you mean by "if you want to dig deeper and find out who you truly are" ... ?

all the world's contemplative/mystic/meditative traditions share the discovery that you are NOT this person with it's biography, thoughts, longings, fears and preferences, this physical body etc....or (how I'd prefer putting it) you are not only that.
your "person" is a tiny fraction of what you actually are, even if most people will be identified with just that for the entirety of a human life span.

meditative paths can give access to the experience of a much deeper and timeless identity which is unborn and immortal. an integration of all things which breaks the illusion of separation.

it goes much further than "believing" as it is all about the direct exploration and experience.

all the world's contemplative/mystic/meditative traditions share the discovery that you are NOT this person with it's biography, thoughts, longings, fears and preferences, this physical body etc....or (how I'd prefer putting it) you are not only that. your "person" is a tiny fraction of what you actually are, even if most people will be identified with just that for the entirety of a human life span.

meditative paths can give access to the experience of a much deeper and timeless identity which is unborn and immortal. an integration of all things which breaks the illusion of separation.

it goes much further than "believing" as it is all about the direct exploration and experience.

in many cases someone a painter or a digital artist draws a tree..a fake oneand even though we know that it is fake we praise him and worship him like a god (in many cases i admit)and we create museums , we read books and we give speeches....about him

so i wonder at this pointwhy don't we praise and worship (the same way) him (the creator) who created the real one ?

I don't know for God, but the universe really looks like a living painting using mainly cosmic dust and gases as colors.... nebulae pics are stunning...

in many cases someone a painter or a digital artist draws a tree..a fake oneand even though we know that it is fake we praise him and worship him like a god (in many cases i admit)and we create museums , we read books and we give speeches....about him

so i wonder at this pointwhy don't we praise and worship (the same way) him (the creator) who created the real one ?

I don't know for God, but the universe really looks like a living painting using mainly cosmic dust and gases as colors.... nebulae pics are stunning...

in a way we are all made of stars
or stardust..
since million tons of dust fall on earth from space every year (10 tons of space dust falls every day ) i believe that our bodies are made from stardust..
we are all made from stardust and light

INVADERS OF THE HEART - EVERY MAN IS AN ISLAND

Everyman's an island
And the time is coming
Senseless air conflict
A murder man in the magazine
Meaningless imagery
Blaze across my TV screen
The signals something daunting
Someone wake me from this dream

Drift into the dream

>> Fine is a word invented by "brutality"*= [Fun is a word invented by advertising executives to sell soft drinks]Sent here to us to sell itself to itThe freedom of the highway is blue jeans, fast carsBiased...>>

Everyman's an island
And the time is coming in
Till you not know yourself
That is the ultimate sin
....
>> Never gave our deepest greedy uses
Heartfelt sentiment
Without the intent to nationalism of an airline advertisement
Red roses, blast before my eyes
And I 'm a carting blow
....
Love is a luxury
Some of it can't accord
....